I want to apologise in advance if this topic was already discussed - I used the search function and didn't get the answer.
So, the question is what use is ritual magic?
There are no special ritual spells, you cast your regular spells.
You need a Lodge Force of desired Force of the spell being cast/number of participants.
You get only as many participants as the lowest Ritual Spellcasting skill in the group.
Ritual needs a spotter, who must astrally percieve the target for the whole duration of the ritual. If he loses the target, the ritual fails.
Force of the spell is limited by the Magic of ritual leader. No additional power, regular limitations.
Ritual goes for 12-Leader's Magic hours.
Ritual can be spotted and countered.
After the spell is cast, all participants suffer the same drain.
So, for example, we want to cast an epic fireball. There are five of us, all having Ritual Spekkcasting at 5 (otherwise we won't be able to cast). The teamleader has Magic of 5, so we can cast a spell of maximum Force 10 (as per Force rules on p. 182). That would take us 7 hours of casting with one bound spirit watching the target. Assuming he doesn't notice us, we cast our spell. Let's assume we get all those 10 hits, of which some are negated by target's Body. But let's take the maximum effect. Oour target is hit by a major fireball with DV of 20. That being fire damage means he's pretty much dead. But then comes the drain of 10, which leave us crippled at best. And if the target has some defence, he may yet still survive the assault. And he can notice the mana building around and track us (and we still stand and cast our juju not to suffer the drain). And, what's more, a much lesser dpell or a shot from rocket launcher would do the job just fine.
So, what's the trick? I'm a bit new to Shadowrun, so I'm surely missing some points of Ritual Spellcasting. What is it used for?